Final day of Dragon Boat Festival in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
NEW YORK -- Sunday is the second and final day of the Dragon Boat Festival in Flushing Meadows Park.
The event in Queens is the oldest and longest-running dragon boat festival in the country. It's entertaining for some, but fiercely competitive for others, CBS2's Astrid Martinez reported.
"A part of me, in essence. Of course, take away that part of me, and not only me, also a part of the dragon boat family," said Henry Wan, chairman of the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York.
The festival paddled its way back to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park at full capacity Saturday for the first time since 2019.
"You can see the excitement today, so many teams. We have over 170 teams for this weekend," Wan said.
"It's really a spectacular opportunity for building friendships and experiencing culture," said Candy Nip, director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York.
Competitors will be vying for trophies and bragging rights.
"We first started in 2015, so we're very excited. We had a great performance in 2019, our last race before the pandemic. So we're looking to top that performance," said Ling Xu, director of retail banking for Flushing Bank.
There's plenty to do on land, as well.
"If you look around here, you can see people from all walks of life coming to participate, and to be able to bring them together, it's a very good thing," Wan said.
Hundreds of boats will race on the water on Sunday. They start at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m.